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Videogames highlights - November 2012

Today’s myth to debunk is the death of single-player games, a type of gaming interaction that the big publishers would like to dismiss in support of an extreme monetization of on-line games and that unknown developers of casual/social shits dare to define a “gimmick” with no future. And this is why the single-player game Dishonored sold much more than expected, that the long anticipated BioShock Infinite will not have a multiplayer mode and so Metro: Last Light as well. Single-player games are dead, unfortunately the idiots that don’t know what they are talking about are pretty much alive.

Distance

After they made a name for themselves with the bumping Nitronic Rush, the Team Nitronic (now Refract Studios) developers are back to the psychedelic races that defy gravity with Distance. Funded through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the new title is the “spiritual successor” of the aforementioned Nitronic Rush and pushes the concept of “survival racing game” even farther with flying cars, ceilings becoming roads - and vice versa - an almost freely “explorable” game environment and much more. To be released within this year’s summer on PC (Windows/Linux/Mac).

Grand Theft Auto V

Rockstar Games returns to walk the way of the criminal with the company’s new and anticipated gaming blockbuster: Grand Theft Auto Vwill be set in the same fictional universe introduced by the previous chapter of the series, but differently from the past the game will give the player the chance to follow the “professional” career of three different characters. And this will not be the only noteworthy novelty: the British publisher promises a larger game world, robbery “missions”, new multiplayer modes. Rockstar is pretty happy to be able to work with a well-known hardware like the seventh-generation consoles, while eventual versions for PC and Wii U are still to be defined. Coming out on September 2013 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Karateka

Jordan Mechner clearly enjoys revisiting his old computer classics: after having finished works on the (ugly) film based on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2010, the designer decided to pick up his first game again and make a modern and up-to-date version of it. The 2D of the Karateka from 1984 (Apple II) has leaved place to a stylized 3D graphics, there are three playable characters but the mission (to save princess Mariko) and the game style (side-scrolling beat’em up) have remained the same. Karateka is available as digital download on Xbox 360, PS3, Apple’s mobile toys and PC (Steam, The Pirate Bay).

Primordia

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the human beings are stuff of legend and the robots walk the earth, Primordia follows the deeds of the robot named Horatio Nullbuilt and its flying sidekick Crispin in search of their energy source stolen by another android. Of course, being this an “indie” graphic adventure for PC, things will be more complicated than this and the mysteries to unveil will be plentiful. As much as there will be no shortage of obscure puzzles to lost some good nights of sleep on, it seems. Primordia is available since December 2012 on GOG.com, Steam and elsewhere. And there is a demo too.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn

Dragonborn is the third expansion (in form of DLC) for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the latest chapter of the epic RPG saga from Bethesda which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The expansion offers the chance to visit the island of Solstheim and kill new creatures, face new quests and mount the dragons, while the main target is to fight the first Dragonborn, Miraak, eager to come back to life and regain his title. Dragonborn is an expansion rich of contents for the Dovahkiin that already saw many fights, and it is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.